Taking Chances
by xboatsandbirdsx
Summary: It's a new school year for Hayley and all is going well till a new family moves to the neighborhood. They ignore everyone and keep to themselves but when something terrifying happens to Hayley and Tyler swoops in to save her everything changes.


The hot water soaked my hair and made it hang limply down my back, pasted to my relaxed shoulders to just below my chest. The water made it much darker than the real brown/honey colour it was. I had already shampooed and conditioned and I knew my mother would yell for me to get out soon. I sighed and hesitantly turned off the warm water and grabbed my towel quickly; wrapping it around myself trying to keep the warmth in my body. I stepped out, racing against the cold air and put on one of my many pairs of jeans, a pretty dark blue t-shirt and my favourite creamy, white hoodie.

"Hayley, are you out of that shower yet?" My mother called from downstairs.

I sighed, smiling to myself, "yes." I called back. My mum was always fussing over every smallest thing, which meant I had been brought up in a very strict way. I guess because I was now 16 she was worried I would go running off and go to parties, sneak out late and come home at 3 in the morning like _normal_ kids my age but I hated being reckless and crazy, she and I both knew it.

I stared at myself in the foggy mirror. I was shorter than most kids my age and had small features, my hair was usually wavy but was very straight at the moment (only because it was wet), my hazel eyes were very light and I hated them for that reason, my face was dotted with seldom freckles and they were quiet light which was good, wouldn't want them standing out to much and last but not least: my skin colour; it was pale. Like, really pale, even for one that lived in North Land. I shook my head and pulled my gaze away from my reflection, wrapped my towel around my hair and headed to my room.

The sun was pecking over the trees when I got there, a few weak rays streamed through my window and into my room making my cream carpet yellow. I turned my heater on, ignoring the sun that wouldn't be able to warm anything at this time of year and grabbed my hair brush. I snickered at my failing attempts at trying to brush my hair for it was a mess and it was almost impossible to bush when wet.

I didn't usually have showers in the morning but last night I had had yet another nightmare and had woken up tense, exhausted and slightly sweaty. Not the best way to start a new year of school.

_Ah a new year..._ I thought to myself sadly. It's not that I didn't enjoy school or anything; it was about trying to fit in. I felt out of place there, like I didn't belong. I shrugged my worries off, maybe this year would go better.

I picked up my cell just as it vibrated with a text.

'_Remember, it's a new year, which means a new start ;)'_ I read muttering it out loud. It was from my best friend since year 5, David. I couldn't help but smile and send back a quick text, _'get ready for change._'

I stared back at the mirror and narrowed my eyes, _David's right; it's a new year, a time for changes. No more 'nice Hayley',_ I thought. Everyone expected me to be a loving girl, small and helpless. Well not this year, change was coming I could feel it.

Russell was a small town in North Land, New Zealand; it had a population of around 3,000 and only had one high school: Russell High School. It had about 800 students, didn't have a uniform which was good about it and it was unisex.

I pulled my car into an empty car park and sat in it for a moment stressing over what teachers I would have when suddenly there was a knock on the window.

I almost jumped out of my skin in fright and someone burst out laughing outside the car. I rolled down the window, steaming with anger and embarrassment, "Damn it David!"

He grinned at me stupidly, "It's good to see you to." He snickered, "now come on! Why are you hanging in your car?" He asked totally forgetting about the incident that happened only a moment ago.

That's how it was with David; he had the attention span of an ant.

I gazed out the window past him deciding it was best for me to forget about it as well, "just wondering about teachers I'm going to get this year." I shrugged looking back at him. His light blue eyes lingered on my face for a moment then he shook his blond hair out of his eyes obviously dismissing the thing he was just thinking about. "Your hairs wet." He pointed out.

I sighed, glad that I had been able to brush it a bit more but I hadn't had any time to dry it. "Let's go to class." I said getting out of the car.

"Hayley?" he asked after a moment or so of silence.

I was day dreaming and pulled myself back to earth when he said my name.

"Huh? What?" I asked turning to looked at him. He raised his eyebrow at me and sighed, "Have you heard?" He asked.

I shook my head, "heard what?" I asked confused. Was I missing out on something?

"About the new family in town." He informed me. Oh yes, the new family. How could one _not _know, when we lived in a town with such a small amount of people? "Of course I've heard about them." I answered looking back in front of myself.

"Do you think they'll be nice?" He pushed.

I shrugged, "I don't know. Why are you so into them?" I asked eyeing him carefully

He looked away, "just want to know, you know?"

"In other words, trying to make conversation..." I muttered.

"Well excuse me for trying." He said poking his tongue out at me. I smiled back as we entered our tutor class.

The bell rang exactly at 8.40 and school officially started at 8.45. School ended at 3. time right now was 8.35 so David and I sat down in a chair each.

"So?"

"So what?" I asked putting my bag down.

"So what do you think they'll be like? Truthfully" He asked.

I shrugged looking him in the eye, "I don't know David. I guess they'll be like every other kid here." I said wearily. I was getting bored of this talk.

He caught my tone, nodded and let the conversation rest.

"Ok class..." The teacher said, his words drowning off as he looked around our small classroom which had about 20 kids in it. "First of all, welcome back. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday but I have an announcement to make. As you all know, there are going to be two new arrivals at our school—," He was cut off from a murmur of talk from the class. "Hush please." He said loudly. The class silenced. "Both of them will be joining this tutor class." He announced. Uproar of talk broke out from the class as the new kids entered the room. The talking stopped immediately and everyone stared.

First entered a girl she was small, smaller than me and her dark ash brown hair was cut short so it looked like a pixie haircut. She eyed us all with an unreadable look on her face and her lips twitched slightly as if she was going to smile, when her brother followed her inside. He stepped to stand beside his sister and my eyes widened slightly, he had messy, pure black hair and his dark black eyes pierced mine for a miler-second and then continued to look around the class. They both had olive toned skin and both were beautiful looking.

"Would you like to introduce yourselves?" The teacher asked glancing at the new kids.

The boy didn't move but the girl nodded, "My name is Courtney Flow and this is my brother, Tyler Flow." She said in a loud voice. It was strong and it had a slight American accent.

"Welcome to the class, please take a seat anywhere you like." The teacher said smiling at them.

As they went to take two empty seats at the back the teacher started to talk about what core subjects we'd all be learning in this class. He also mentioned that his name was Mr Cooper but I wasn't paying any attention to him, instead, I was thinking about the new kids. They looked so different to anybody else I had ever seen and it wasn't just their looks, it was also the way they moved and talked. It was weird like they were being careful not to scare anyone, which they had. I could tell by the looks on people's faces. It was a mix between fear and surprise. Even the teacher continued to glance in their direction continuously with a look of doubt and surprise as well.

The first class was maths and it went by slowly. I couldn't concentrate knowing that two complete strangers to this town were sitting right behind me and scary ones at that.

"Are you ok?" David asked as Mr Cooper started to get us to hand in the math sheets which we had been doing for this lesson. "You seem kind of twitchy." He commented.

I slowly turned my face towards him knowing that if I moved my head just the right amount, I'd be able to see them out of the corner of my eye. "Yeah, I'm fine." I said to David quickly then glanced towards Courtney and Tyler. As soon as I had I wished I hadn't for when my eyes found Tyler he turned his cold glare towards me and then Courtney did the same as if they were telepathically connected. I ripped my gaze away from his stare and gasped; just realising that I had been holding my breath.

"Tyler's staring at you." David whispered to me just after the bell rung.

"What have we got next?" I asked breathless and ignoring his comment.

"I have Computer Studies, I don't know what—are you feeling ok?" He asked suddenly.

I looked at him confused.

"You've gone kind of white, whiter than normal." He said swallowing. I shook my head back and forth.

"I'm fine." I said quickly getting up.

David watched me carefully like he was expecting me to floor over. I probably would. I ignored him though and grabbed my time table that we had been given in tutor time. _'Japanese' _it read.

"Come on," I said to David grabbing his arm and pulling him out the door before Tyler and Courtney could pass and I thought I heard a low chuckle coming from behind me.

"Ow. OW!" David whimpered as I dragged him outside.

"Sorry David, it's just thoughts new kids are freaking me out." I told him quietly.

He nodded, "you're not wrong there." He said looking behind himself back to the classroom where they were just coming out from.

"I'll meet you in our normal spot for interval." I said over my shoulder as I walked quickly away.

What was up with thoughts kids! They were so freaky looking, as if they were villains out of a scary movie. I mean, why they would act so mean as a first impression was far beyond me.

The rest of the day went by slowly. I had three periods with the Flow's. 3 hours. I had already had done one hour with them in maths but up next was Social Studies and then science.

I hadn't gone over to them yet to introduce myself and every time I watched someone go over to say 'hi', they always came back with the same comments on them: rude, mean and isolated.

"So, what do you think this one will be?" David asked me bringing me back to reality.

"Sorry. What?" I asked looking at him wide eyed.

He sighed, "Do you think this question is a combined element?" He asked pointing towards the 'Science/Chemistry' workbook we had been given to work on. "You were day dreaming again weren't you?" He said looking suspiciously at me.

"Maybe..." I said staring at the book.

"Were... Were you thinking about the Flow's?" He asked raising his eyebrows.

"No!" I whispered angrily to him.

He grinned ear to ear. "You were!" he accused me.

"_So?"_ I said fiercely, now glaring at the book.

He sighed, "It's not a bad thing Jade." He said quietly.

I glanced behind myself to see them staring back at me and I swung my head back round to my desk, "they keep staring at me." I whispered embarrassed.

David muttered something.

"Pardon?" I asked him.

He shook his head, "nothing. But why are you so concerned about them? Their just two normal... ok there a bit different from _normal_, but they're still human beings." He said trying to catch my eyes.

I shrugged, "I guess your right..."

"Am I ever _not_?" He asked smirking. I laughed at his stupid expression and punched his arm lightly.

"Are you going to introduce yourself to them?" He asked as the bell for lunch went.

I looked down at my hands and shrugged, "sure, why not?" I said getting out of my chair.

David and I quickly packed our bags and slowly headed over to where Courtney and Tyler were sitting. They weren't even talking just looking in opposite directions.

"Uh, hello." I said smiling. Their gazes hit me at exactly the same time and I flinched slightly. "My names Hayley and this is David. Welcome to Russell..." I choked out. Their expressions hadn't changed, they just continued to stare. They glanced at David once then looked back to me. Both of them had black eyes and even though they were amazingly beautiful, they were also terrifying at the same time. There was just something about them, about the air that hung around them like it didn't have enough oxygen in it to breath.

"Ok, well... I guess we'll see you around." David said quietly. Fumbling to get away from them as fast as possible, I on the other hand, was trapped. It was as if their gaze had me hypnotised. Tyler blinked once and I was free. David was already pulling me towards the door before I could turn around to walk straight and as soon as we were outside David glared at the classroom, "ok, we are _never_ talking to them again got it?" He said looking at me.

I nodded out of breathless again because of their gaze, "agreed."


End file.
